Outside Source
Joshua Van isn’t letting his potential Fight of the Year performance against Brandon Royval inflate his ego any more than he allows other people’s opinions affect his preparation for an eventual showdown with UFC flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja.
It was almost exactly one month ago when Van scored a knockout of Bruno Silva at UFC 316 that was supposed to push him higher in the rankings with the potential to lure a top 10 opponent into a fight with him. Not even 24 hours removed from that win, Van accepted an opportunity to face Royval at UFC 317 three weeks later with the chance to win and immediately put himself in position to battle for a championship.
Van heard all the comments that he would make it an exciting fight but probably couldn’t hang with Royval, especially on such short notice. He absorbed it all and then beat Royval in a wild three-round war, but it didn’t take long for him to start hearing the new narrative that he’s getting a title shot with little chance to beat a four-time defending champion like Pantoja.
“You know how the fans are like ‘Joshua Van is not ready’ — I see all the comments and shit like that,” Van told MMA Fighting. “We win the fight. Now people are saying I’m not ready for the title fight and this and that.
“What are they going to say when we win that belt? We’re just trying to stay in our lane and grind. Like we did every f*cking day.”
Van isn’t saying he’s going to just run roughshod over somebody like Pantoja, but he’d also be crazy to find himself in this position without the confidence that he can become UFC champion.
He knows he has the ability to beat anybody in the flyweight division and that includes Pantoja.
“He’s beating all the guys but styles make fights,” Van said about Pantoja. “Like I said, everybody that Brandon Royval fought, he beat, except for the champion and I beat him. It’s just an opinion.
“At the end of the day, I could be the greatest thing that ever happened in this world but people will still find a way to put me down. I don’t [pay] mind to that shit.”
Perhaps the biggest question Van faces in the weeks and months leading to his eventual fight against Pantoja is his ability to deal with the Brazilian’s grappling-heavy style.
In 30 career wins, Pantoja has finished 12 of those by submission including his victory over Kai Kara-France at UFC 317. With a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and solid wrestling at his disposal, Pantoja has the skills to take anybody down and put them away with a submission.
As for Van, he maintains 81 percent takedown defense in the UFC and he’s only been submitted once in his career and that came during his third professional fight. Van promises he’s ready to deal with whatever Pantoja throws at him, but he’s not going to run scared from the grappling exchanges just because that’s where the champion considers himself the best.
“I’m always confident. I just don’t like hugging another man in a fight,” Van said. “That’s the reason why ya’ll don’t see my ground game. But when it comes to a couple of fights where I got hurt, I take people down. I’ve got it in my back pocket. When it’s time to use it, I use it.
“Who do you see in the UFC that can hold me down? All my previous fights, they took me down but what happened? It’s just an opinion at the end of the day. I know they’re going to ask me same the question over and over and over again. Like what do you think? Can you defend his takedowns? Yeah, if I didn’t think I could defend it, do you think I’d be willing to fight him? Things like that. Of course, me and my team we believe in ourselves. We believe in our work and I believe my coaches will find a way for me to beat the champ.”
Believing in himself is exactly what led Van to accept the short-notice fight against Royval and then beat him just a few weeks later. He carries that same attitude into the fight against Pantoja and as much as he respects the UFC flyweight champion, he can’t fear him or that could lead to his downfall.
Van believes that’s what he witnessed in Pantoja’s latest title defense.
“Shout out to both him and Kai but I feel like Kai showed too much respect,” Van said. “I don’t know if he was hurt going into that fight or something but I don’t think Kai fought the way that he fought before. Who knows. Not everybody is 100 [percent] on that fight day. I don’t know what happened to him but I don’t think he fought his fight and he just made it easy for Pantoja.”
While he hasn’t received an official call from the UFC giving him a date or location for the title bout, Van is already preparing for Pantoja in his mind while allowing his body to rest up and heal following quick back-to-back bookings.
Once training camp begins, Van plans to get ready for his title shot like he’s done every other fight he’s had in the UFC, so don’t expect him to cower to anybody’s best weapons and that includes dealing with Pantoja’s ground game.
“They’ll always find a way to say you’re not ready,” Van said. “Just imagine how the f*ck am I in the UFC fighting and not knowing no ground? Can you even imagine that shit? Like I’ve got to know a little bit. I think I’ll be ready come fight day.”
This article first appeared at MMA Fighting – All Posts
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